Leadership Development Case Study: Glynlyon

How two leadership development programs by Leadership Choice helped an educational technology company achieve better consistency in their leaders while elevating performance companywide.

Company Name: Glynlyon

Company Size: 500-1000 employees

Industry: Educational Technology

 

Leadership Development Summary

Leadership Choice was hired by Glynlyon to design and implement an online virtual leadership development program supported by occasional in-house workshops and projects. The focus of this program was to improve the skills of existing leaders, create a system of common leadership expectations and processes, and to accelerate the development of a senior leadership pipeline.

Challenges:

• Inconsistency across organization, management processes, and expectations
• No company-wide standard for performance reviews
• Every manager seemed to be working in own “silo”
• Company hadn’t communicated policies and expectations
• No common language

“As a growing company, we had a wide experience range of managers. We wanted to provide foundational knowledge for all managers within our organization.” – Tiffany Hicks, Executive Director of Learning and Development

Leadership Development Program Criteria:

• Predominantly virtual
• Bring cohorts together for occasional in-person classroom sessions
• Modern, cutting edge technology
• High-energy, engaging, interactive presenters
• Dashboard metrics to track engagement & application

“Glynlyon is a technology company—we needed a virtual leadership development platform that was cutting edge, current, engaging, and interactive.” – Kat Brown, Vice President of Customer Success

Why Choose Leadership Choice?

• The cutting edge dashboard where training organizers can manage processes and view progress
• The Leadership Choice team was collaborative, listened, and adjusted the program to perfectly fit Glynlyon’s needs
• Great energy and interactivity
• Interactive multimedia virtual workbooks
• Flip classroom, chunking, and pre-work
• 1:1 coaching for every participant

“Coaching wasn’t one of our original criteria, but once we found out it was standard with Leadership Choice programs, we thought ‘oh man, that is killer.’” – Kat Brown

Leadership Development Program Goals

• Standardize leadership strategy, language, & processes
• Elevate leadership skills of existing and potential leaders
• Support & empower existing and prospective leaders with a more companywide approach to leadership development
• Facilitate a more strategic leadership pipeline
• Deliver the program virtually with occasional in-person classroom sessions
• Have modern dashboards, high-engagement, interactive material

What this Leadership Development Program Looks Like:

After discussing program goals, Leadership Choice and Glynlyon decided to modify Leadership Choice’s popular Connecting For Leaders program into a two-fold leadership development program.

The first phase focuses on improving integral leadership skills in existing leaders. It also helps leaders develop a common leadership approach, strategy, and language to create a more cohesive and scalable leadership unit as a whole.

The second phase takes high-potential employees and leaders to develop more advanced leadership, innovation, and critical thinking skills. The participants then complete a coach-supported development project with real-world applications and impact for the company.

Connecting for Leaders (called GMA – Glynlyon Management Academy)

This program was used for all managers to hone integral leadership skills and to develop common standards, processes, and language. By improving these leadership skills and standardizing processes, Glynlyon’s team management becomes more scalable.

Advanced Leadership Program (GLDA – Glynlyon Leadership Development

This program was specifically developed for Glynlyon and nurturing high-potential leaders to become next generation senior leaders, thought leaders, and innovators. This group would participate in a number of advanced learning units, then would participate in direct business projects in conjunction with their personal leadership coaches.

High-Potential Development

While the Connecting for Leaders/Glynlyon Management Academy program was developed specifically for existing leaders, Glynlyon also chose to open a percentage of the programs spots up to non-leader employees. Of the 70 employees who submitted applications to be part of the Academy, 15 were chosen to participate. These participants would have the opportunity to accelerate their skills as a contributor while mastering integral leadership skills.

Coaches for Every Participant

This is a standard for all Leadership Choice’s leadership development programs. Each participant in any leadership training program is paired with an individual leadership development coach. This coach meets with the individual after every learning unit to support development and implementation, troubleshoot any personal barriers, and apply the skills relevant to specific job duties.

While coaching wasn’t one of the original criteria for Glynlyon’s leadership development program, it quickly became recognized as a gamechanger in the way the curriculum was delivered and received during the program.

“The personal coaching experiences allow our participants to ask questions, solve problems, and apply the content based on their positions and experience levels.” – Tiffany Hicks

Leadership Program Outcomes

Immediately improved communication and awareness.The most notable and immediate outcome Glynlyon has experienced after the Leadership Choice leadership development programs were implemented is a heightened awareness of the way team members, clients, and higher-ups communicate. Glynlyon has found their leaders are more adept at increasing their personal understanding and using that information to adjust.

Increased consistency in leadership processes, expectations, and delivery.Glynlyon is also accomplishing their goal of establishing consistency in language, processes, and KPIs. A greater awareness of leadership as a process rather than as a role has helped managers be better focused on performance and better equipped to deliver the resources, expectations, and follow-through needed to elevate the performance of their team members.

Actionable leadership pipeline.This past month, Glynlyon also experienced their first in-house hire to a leadership position due to the Glynlyon Management Academy. This employee was one of the 15 high-potential non-leader employees chosen to participate. The skills mastered during the Glynlyon Management Academy were integral in a promotion to a leadership position.